Makkal Needhi Maiam founder Kamal Haasan on Thursday urged party cadre, who are not from the nine districts in which local body elections will be held, to participate in gram sabha meetings to be held in other districts on October 2. The last gram sabha was held across the State on January 26.
In a statement, Mr. Haasan asked the cadre to reiterate the importance of gram sabha meetings to the people and encourage their participation.
He said the ruling and opposition parties were trying to ensure that the meetings were not held regularly. “The COVID-19 pandemic is a good excuse for them not to hold the gram sabha meetings. Election campaigns, voting, counting, a function to take charge of the government can all be held, but they claim gram sabha meetings alone cannot be held due to COVID-19 ,” he said. Mr. Haasan added, “Environmental issues, loot of natural resources, issues related to Tasmac shops and neglected waterbodies should be raised in the gram sabhas. The resolutions passed in the gram sabha meetings have a lot of value and they should be placed before the public.”
